1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally in the field of transactional methods and systems for collectable items. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and systems for association of physical and virtual accessories for collectable items.
2. Background Art
Methods and systems for performing microtransactions, such as transactions that are characterized as involving small sums of money, have advanced rapidly as the Internet has matured. This rapid advancement has been driven, in part, by a recognition by online retail and service providers that online microtransactions are profitable in circumstances where similar transactions performed in a conventional retail setting would accrue a loss. The benefits of performing microtransactions utilizing the Internet have lead to innovation, in some cases, in markets typically reserved for traditional products and services.
For example, the market for children's toys has seen significant innovation recently as an online microtransactional model has been applied in that field. In particular, the market for children's dolls, which historically has been a market supplying physical dolls for children to play with, has recently leveraged online microtransactional techniques to provide children with virtual dolls (e.g., online avatars) to play with. Thus, utilizing the World Wide Web, for example, a child can go online, create or purchase a virtual doll, and play with the doll in an online environment in several ways, some of which mimic a child's play (e.g., dress-up play) with traditional physical dolls. For example, at the time of writing, StarDoll provides such an online environment. In such an online environment, a child can perform online microtransactions to purchase virtual clothing or other virtual accessories to associate with the virtual doll. Given the low price of such online microtransactions, online play can be much less expensive than, for example, purchasing physical clothing or other physical accessories for an equivalent traditional physical doll.
The costs associated with operating a market for physical clothing or other physical accessories for a physical doll in a conventional retail setting are, as suggested above, quite high, for a variety of reasons. For example, the cost of maintaining a physical inventory of clothes or other accessories is high in a conventional retail setting, whereas in a virtual setting the cost of maintaining virtual inventory is negligible. Operating a market for physical dolls in a conventional retail setting also entails risk because the market for children's toys is often unpredictable and fashion- or trend-driven. Consequently, circumstances may demand that a particular line of physical inventory be tossed out as unsellable, imposing a significant cost. As such, the market for physical clothing or other physical accessories for physical dolls is reserved largely for high-end or boutique stores such as, for example, American Doll.
Despite the advances made in the online market for children's toys, such as children's dolls, thanks in part to advantages derived from utilizing online microtransactional systems and methods, physical toys still remain popular. Physical toys, such as physical dolls, will most likely endure the inroads made by virtual toys into the market for children's toys, because, for example, physical toys have a tangible appeal that virtual toys have been unable to duplicate. Accordingly, there is a need to overcome the drawbacks and deficiencies in the art by offering an improved method and system for microtransactional association of physical and virtual accessories.